Retractable Wall Mounted Clothes Line

More elaborate rotary washing lines save space and are typically retractable and square or triangular in shape, with multiple lines being used (such as the Hills Hoist from Australia). Some can be folded up when not in use (although there is a very minor hazard of getting fingers caught, so there is usually a safety button).

In Scotland, many tenement buildings have a “drying green”, which is a communal area predominantly used for clothes lines – it may also be used as a recreational space – as well as a clothes horse connected to a pulley system inside which can be used in the frequently cold winter weather.

Advantages

Saves money
Zero greenhouse gas emissions per load (2 kg CO2eq of greenhouse gas emissions from the average mechanical clothes dryer per load)
Less fabric wear and tear
Laundry items do not shrink (hot air from a mechanical clothes dryer may shrink items)
No static cling and no perfume smells throughout the neighborhood from fabric softener and anti-static dryer sheets.
Laundry items stay softer to the touch (mechanical clothes dryers tend to remove short, soft, fine fibers), and may be less wrinkled
Laundry items often do not need ironing if line dried in a breeze
Avoids the potential of airborne lint and reduced air quality
Eliminates the noise from a mechanical clothes dryer
Does not vent indoor air to the outside and waste the large volume of conditioned (heated or cooled) air that a mechanical dryer’s blower does.
For a simple line drying arrangement (rope and clothes pins) the repair and replacement costs are about $20.00 per 1,000 loads of laundry or 2 cents per load. For non-commercial mechanical clothes drying the repair and replacement costs (including labor expenses) are about $200.00 per 1,000 loads of laundry or 20 cents per load.

Drying laundry indoors

Laundry may be dried indoors rather than outdoors for a variety of reasons including: